Five Years of Lies
by DangNira
Summary: [AU] Childhood memories can be sweet, but Dara's are far from that. To survive she must over come her past feelings. She faces the choice to live a lie, or to embrace the truth and have her world crumble beneath her. Who will help her... ?


**Five Years Of Lies**  
  
_Written by: Dang Nira (-bLuSh- & Iris)_

**Authors' note:** This is an original story, but we have chucked in the characters from Prince of Tennis because they're just so awesome 

**Disclaimer:** Unfortunately, we do not own Prince of Tennis. 

[Chapter One] 

With Pei gone, Dara felt as lonely as when her sister had... well. She didn't want to think about it. True, the faces around her were now attached to familiar names and personalities, but none of them was attached to her. They revolved in closed orbits of twos or threes or fours while she sat alone trying not to look at Pei's vacant seat. She closed her eyes and concentrated on wishing for a new girl to walk through the door.  
To her surprise, the door slammed open and a short girl appeared in the doorway. She cracked a smile and yelled, "Hey, hey!!!! Wow, look at all you nerds. Haha, this school thing looks fun. I'm a new student here, my name is-"  
"Ning?" The teacher interrupted.  
The girl blinked a few times and then replied, "Who the heck are you?"  
"Mr. Tezuka"   
The girl started cracking up, "Oh man, are you serious? You look pretty young for a teacher… and kind of hot too." She then walked into the room and assembled on the empty seat beside Dara.  
Tezuka coughed loudly and asked again for confirmation, "So, are you Ning?" The new girl was too busy unpacking her bag to notice anything. The teacher looked annoyed and was ready to ask again, but was utterly disrupted by the voice of his quietest student, "Yes, sir! Her name is Ning."  
Dara could feel everyone looking at her, even though she had suddenly kept her eyes fixed on her desk. _'Ahh!! I feel so stupid now. Why did I say that? I'm sure Ning was able to answer that herself… Damn it!!'_ She thought to herself.  
"Umm… thanks for that. But how the hell did you know?" Ning asked, staring blankly at Dara. She had finally finished unpacking her things and decided to pay attention to what was going on.   
"Because uhh… on your bag… there's your name on it," Dara replied, pointing to Ning's bag, which was scribbled with writing such as "Ning's the best," "Ning owns you all!!!" and "Ning rules the world!!"  
Ning laughed. 

Dara decided to wait for Ning after class. She poked her head behind the door of the classroom and tried to listen to their discussion. When Mr. Tezuka had been verified that his new student's name was Ning, he said he needed to speak to her after class. Ning just nodded her head as it was nothing but Dara was slightly curious. She pushed her ears closer to the door in hope that she'd be able to hear the conversation more clearly.  
"You've been enrolled at this school for almost 3 months already. In fact, just 1 more day and it'd be 3 months. And the rules here at Kinaton Fighting School is that any student absent for 3 months straight will be immediately expelled. That's very fortunate for you, isn't it?"  
"Yes, Mr. Tezuka." Ning responded half-heartedly.  
"Why did you decide to come today? From your attitude, it seems obvious that you are not serious about attending this school. Are you trying to play a joke here?"   
"I refuse to answer that, Mr. Tezuka. I don't find it necessary for you to be acquainted with such personal information."  
"… Very well. But I'd just like to tell you one thing. Kinaton Fighting School is no place for kids like you to just play around and do nothing. Every student, no matter how old, is trained to become superior fighters to protect our country and the royal family. Missing out on 3 months of work is a big issue here, you have missed out on plenty of work. If you are not persistent, you will definitely fail."  
"I am aware of that, Mr. Tezuka. But whose problem will that be? Why of course, it would be mine. I don't see why you need to care so much. I may only be 13 years old, but I am capable of doing things on my own. So don't you go worrying about me, Mr. Tezuka."  
The door opened and Ning stepped out of the room. She stared, expressionless, at Dara, who gave her a surprised look in return. "Uhh… did you have fun eavesdropping?" Ning asked, but strolled away without waiting for a reply. 


End file.
